Automobile heater



A ril 23, 1935. J. .1. SUNDAY AUTOMOBILE HEATER I Filed June 9, 1953 2SheetsSheet 1 ATTORNEYS April 23, 1935. J J. SUNDAY AUTOMOBILE HEATER 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 9, 195a INVENTOR. 05/2755 J gap/ y ATTO NEYat: A". 23, 1935 1,998,974

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1,998,974 AUTOMOBIIE HEATER James 1. Sunday,Jackson. Mich. Application June 9, 1933, Serial No. 675,021 3 Claims.(01. 257-241) This invention relates to an automobile heater twostampings 3 and 4 respectively and each of and constitutes animprovement upon the exwhich forms a half of the casing I. Thestamphaust type of heater described and claimed in ings 3 and 4 areidentical and hence may b ,u copending application Serial No. 609,089filed interchangeab y o form ei pa t or the outer May 4, 1932, which hassince matured into Patent casing. Since the parts 3 and 4 are identicaland No. 1,970,824, dated Aug. 21, 1934. interchangeable, the same die isused for stamp- 5 As set forth in my copending application, the ing bothof them, thus effecting savings in die trend in the automotive vehiclefield to low swung costs. The same holds true of the inner strucframeshas greatly reduced road clearance and ture which is described below.The parts 3 and consequently requires that a heater of the type 4 areprovided with flange a g their lo ud m that is mounted in the exhaustconduit and nal edges, one of which is clinched over the other efiectsheattransier from the exhaust gases to to secure the pa 3 and 4 h r. AShown the air which is circulated within the vehicle body in F g 1 andthe P 4 is Provided with a must necessarily be compact. flange 5 whichextends half the length oi the It is an object of this invention toproduce. a P 4 nd e part 3 is provided with a flan heater of the exhausttype which is very compact which likewise ex hell the n th of the and ofvery small overall dimensions so that it' P The a ge 5 clinched Over theflange will not project below the chassis frame and in- 5 to hold thetwo parts togeth r- A ong the re terfere with road clearance. 4 maininglongitudinal edge of the parts 3 and 4,

Another desirable feature of this invention is these flanges are rev s das shown in 8- that the heater is very simply constructed with that P 4is D d with a flange which but very few parts thus greatly reducing theis clinched over a flange 8 on par A IIS thei manufacturing cost of thesame. t m l n i ud d th p ts 3 a d 4 ar A further object of theinvention is to produce similarly joined to eth r. a heater which is notonly simple and compact The inner structure is also formed of twoidenbut which is highly efficient in heat transfer, and tieal dinterchangeable Parts 9 d "1. Ea h this has been achieved by producingaheater, the of the parts 9 and Ill are preferably stampings innerstructure of which has a relatively large which initially are in theform of e fi m tal heat transfer surface in view of the compactnesssheet, and then stamped in any of the welland small space occupied bythe heater and in known ways to form the longitudinal corruga- 30 whichthe air which is to be heated is uniformly tions II. The parts 9 and II)are formed with 5 distributed about the heating surface. the flanges l2and I3 along their longitudinal It is also an object of this inventionto produce edges which are welded together to form a gas a heater whichis not only highly emcient in heat tight seam and hold the parts 9 andI0 together transfer but which is also highly efiicient from as anintegral inner structure through which the 85 the standpoint ofpermitting the air to flow xh u ga es from the engine are pa It freel,the'rethrough, and this has been achieved will he noted that thecorrugations H te by stream lining the inlet and outlet openingslongitudinally of the inner Structure 4 and form so that the air entersand leaves the heater in alternating passages H a 15 sp tiv y or 40a'line substantially parallel with the heat transthe which is to beheated and t exh u 4o fer surface of the irmer structure and so that thegases- The ends 01 the inner Stmeture 3 are air is not required totravel through any sharp tapered as at whereas the c r ations fla e orright angle bends which retard the flow of outwardly 83 at IT angradually d i to a th m circular opening 18 which has fixed therein, inIn the drawings: any suitable manner such as by welding, in gas 45 Fig.115 a vertical longitudinal section through tight relation theconnection is which connects the heater showing the inner structurepartially the inner heater structure with the exhaust in section.conduit.

Fig. 2 is a section along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1 The stampings 3 and .4which cooperate to showing the inner structure infull lines. form theouter casing I are circular in cross- 50 Fig. 3 is an end view of theheater. section at the center, as shown in Fig. 5, and Figs. 4 and 5 arerespectively sections along the have but a very small clearance 20 withthe inner lines 4-4 and 5-5 of Fig. 1. structure 2 along this centralcircumference.

The heater comprises an outer casing I and an This clearance between theouter casing and the inner structure 2. The outer casing is made frominner casing is relatively greater at each end of 6 the casing, whichgreater clearance provides a distributing chamber 2| for distributingthe air from the air inlet completely around the inner structure 2 sothat the air is distributed in the several air passageways 14, passedalong the passageways and heated prior to being exhausted through theair outlet.

The air inlet 22 is initially in the form of a circle 23, as shown inFig. 3. The air inlet 22 is positioned in an end wall of the casing sothat the lower portion of the opening is below the upper part of theinner structure, or in other words,-the inner structure 2 projects intothe inlet 23 so that the air entering the lower portion of theinlet 22will strike the inner unit 2, as at 24, without having been previouslydeflected. The inlet 22 which is initially circular in crosssectionflares outwardly as at 25 and downwardly as at 26 as it approaches thecenter of the outer casing where, as shown in Fig. 5, it fades into thecircular cross-sectional portion of the outer casing which has but avery small clearance with the outer casing 2.

It will be noted that the downward curve of the inlet, as at 26, isgradual and thus greatly facilitates the flow of the air through theheater. Thus the inlet 22 which is initially, by way of example, in theform of a circle 23 gradually enlarges and flares outwardly anddownwardly like a horn and cooperates with the distributing chamber 2|to evenly distribute the air about the inside heater structure llwithout sharply reversing or changing the direction of flow of the airwhich would necessarily impede the flow of the air.

The air outlet 21 is positioned in the other end wall of the casing andis otherwise identicalwith the inlet 22. Hence, as the air enters themouth 23 of the inlet 22 and passes into the enlarged horn-likechambered portion 28 of the inlet it expands with a consequent decreasein the velocity. At the same time the air is distributed around theinner unit 2 and passes along the air passageways H where it is heatedby the transfer of heat from the exhaust gases through the innerstructure 2. As soon as the air passes the center of the heater some ofit begins to immediately enter the outwardly flared portion 29 of theoutlet '21 and all the air is eventually exhausted through the outlet21. In other words, as the air passes through the outer casing I it isdirected gradually into contact with the heating surface of the innerstructure 2, and then, after being heated, is gradually removed fromcontact with the heating surface of the inner structure 2 and dischargedthrough the outlet without at any time being subjected to sharp turns,abrupt changes or reversals of direction of travel which would greatlyimpede the flow of air through the heater and consequently decrease thecapacity of the heater. This feature of the heater is important becauseit has been found that with this exhaust type of heater it is possibleto heat large volumes of air to a predetermined temperature consonantwith the health and comfort of the passengers in the vehicle and thusobviatetheold practice of heating a small volume of air relativelyto amuch higher temperature andithn 'rrerluceits temperature after enteringthe body byjdiluting this extremely hot air the air or lessertemperature already enter the inlet and in the body which practice isinimical to the health and comfort of the passenger.

I claim:

. l. A heater for effecting heat transfer between gases of differenttemperatures comprising in combination an outer casing having aninlet inone end wall and an outlet in the other end wall, an inner structureextending lengthwise of the casing and having an inlet at one end and anoutlet at the other end, the said outer casing having a relatively smallclearance with the inner casing between its ends and a relativelygreater clearance with the inner structure adjacent its ends to form adistributing chamber for distributing the gas around the outer surfaceof the inner structure, the inner structure and the inlet of the outercasing being positioned one relative to the other so that a portion ofthe surface of the inner structure projects into the inlet whereby thegas upon entering the inlet of the outer casing travels parallel to thesurface of the inner structure.

2. A heater of the exhaust type comprising in combination an outercasing having side and end walls and an air inlet in one end wall and anair outlet in the other end wall, an inner casing extending lengthwise,and between the end walls, of the outer casing and having an inlet atone end and an outlet at the other end, the said inner casing having aplurality of longitudinal corrugations and tapered ends, the outercasing having a relatively small clearance with the inner casingintermediate the ends and a relatively larger clearance with the innercasing at each end to form air distributing chambers, the outer casingbeing formed so that the walls of the inlet flare outwardly about theside walls of the inner casing and taper gradually inwardly toward themid-portion of the outer casing to eflect a relatively'small clearancewith the inner casing, the outer casing being likewise formed so thatthe walls of the outlet flare outwardly about the side walls of theinner casing and taper gradually inwardly toward the mid-portion of theouter casing to effect a relatively small clearance with the innercasing.

3. A heater for effecting heat transfer between gases of differenttemperatures comprising an outer casing having side and end walls and aninlet in one end wall and an outlet in the other end wall, an innercasing having a plurality of longitudinally extending flutes and aninlet at one end and an outlet at the other end, the said inner casingextending lengthwise, and between the end walls, of the outer casing andhaving a portion of its surface projecting into the inlet and outlet ofthe outer casing whereby as the gases leave through the outlet of theouter casing they travel parallel with, and along the outer surface of,the inner casing, the said inner and outer casings having a relativelysmall clearance between their ends and a relatively larger clearanceadjacent their ends to form a circumferential gas distributing chamberat each end, the outer casing being formed so that the walls of theinlet flare outwardly around a part of the side walls of the innercasing and taper inwardly toward the mid-portion of the inner casingwhereby as the gas enters the inlet of the outer casing it is freelydistributed around the inner casing.

JAMES J. SUNDAY.

a. the

